The decision to stay sentencing in president-elect Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial has spurred cries of justice denied on the left — and cheers of celebration on the MAGA right.
New York Justice Juan Merchan on Friday postponed indefinitely a sentencing hearing initially scheduled for Nov. 26 — and in doing so triggered an uproar over Trump's ability to circumvent the usual course of the law.
"Just another example of Trump and his goons skirting the rules to avoid punishment," replied the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "No one should be above the law.... This is bulls---."
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg successfully argued to a New York City jury that Trump had broken the law as he worked to cover up a story he feared would derail his first successful presidential campaign.
It was one of four criminal cases Trump faced in the interim between his two presidential terms, and the only one that came to trial.
Trump pleaded not guilty in each, and it is predicted he'll kill the two federal cases against him — on charges he interfered with the 2020 presidential election and violated the Espionage Act by hoarding classified documents in his ballroom, bathroom and shower — upon resuming office.
"Never again say that no man is above the law," wrote the Editorial Board newsletter editor and U.S. News contributor John Stoehr. "It's a lie now."
But Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign spokesperson, struck a more jubilant tone in a comment sent to the Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell.
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"In a decisive win for President Trump, the hoax Manhattan Case is now fully stayed and sentencing is adjourned," wrote Cheung. "All of the sham lawfare attacks against President Trump are now destroyed and we are focused on Making America Great Again."
Whether or not Merchan will heed Trump's attorneys demands to dismiss the case remains to be seen, according to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin.
That did not stop Trump's eldest son from claiming the case was definitively dead.
"YUGE win in Manhattan DA case," Donald Trump Jr. wrote. "Sentencing cancelled, the judge also apparently asked to file papers to dismiss case. Another one bites the dust!!!"
Valentina Gomez, the failed MAGA candidate who notoriously burned books with a flame thrower, struck a threatening tone when she celebrated the ruling.
"The hammer of Justice is coming," she wrote. "That judge should be in jail."
There is no evidence Merchan committed any wrongdoing.
Amee Vanderpool, an attorney and author of the political newsletter SHERO, argued Merchan's decision to consider a dismissal motion was less than ideal.
"As a legal professional," Vanderpool wrote, "I can honestly say this is a nightmare scenario."
